Safety cover for a storage bay

ABSTRACT

Right and left columns are attached to vertical side supports of a standard storage bay containing multiple horizontal storage platforms. A biased cable moves over a pulley within the columns connected by a shaft driven by an electric motor. A vertical slot in an inside wall of the columns receives multiple slide blocks clamped to the cable at one end and connected to a clip on another end. The clip is attached to a side edge of a heavy duty curtain that moves up or down upon actuation of the motor.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to storage bay safety covers. More particularly,it refers to a safety cover mounted on a side frame of a storage bay forvertical movement.

Many warehouse sales are now available for retail customers in largerfacilities such as provided by COSCO, SAMS, HOME DEPOT and LOWES. Thesefacilities typically have multi-level storage shelves on verticalsupport frames. The shelves are stacked with goods at all levels. Manyaccidents have been caused by the movement of goods on these shelves,particularly the higher shelves since the support frames usuallyseparate customer aisles. When goods are removed from a high shelf fromone aisle, items can fall from the other end of the shelf to theadjacent aisle. Safety covers to protect customers in adjacent aislesfrom falling objects from the high shelves have been employed. U.S. Pat.Nos. 4,981,225; 5,170,829; 5,573,125; 6,619,490 and 6,698,604 showattempts to provide safety nets for warehouse shelves to protect againstfalling objects. Although the systems described in these patents assistin providing safety to customers, many of these systems are expansive,hard to mount to a storage bay and are difficult to operate. A needexists for a storage bay safety cover that is easy to mount to a storagebay, provides protection against shifting articles on the storage bayshelves and is easy to operate.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

This invention solves this problem by providing an easily mountable andoperable safety cover apparatus that prevents shifting of articles in astorage bay from falling off its shelves and injuring customers oremployees. The safety cover apparatus of this invention has a right andleft hollow column attached to a corresponding right and left verticalsupport frame on a standard storage bay having multiple storageplatforms. A biased cable moves over a pulley within the right and lefthollow columns. An electric motor turns a shaft attached to the pulleysto retract the cables. Multiple slide blocks move vertically in avertical slot on the inside wall surface of the right and left columnsand are attached to the cables. Clips along a right and left edge of aheavy duty curtain attach to the slide blocks. A rod is positioned at abottom edge of the curtain and has ends attached to slide blocks. As theslide blocks move upwardly upon retraction of the cable the curtain islikewise retracted and is lowered as the slide blocks move downwardly tocover one or more openings in the storage bay.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention can be best understood by those having ordinary skill inthe art of safety covers for storage bays by reference to the followingdetailed description when considered in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective front view of the safety cover of thisinvention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective front view of a fully extended safety covermounted to a storage bay.

FIG. 3 is a perspective front view of a partially extended safety covermounted to a storage bay.

FIG. 4 is a perspective front view of a retracted safety cover mountedto a storage bay.

FIG. 5 is a partial perspective front view of the actuating switch forthe safety cover.

FIG. 6 is a partial perspective front view of the connection between thecover and side column.

FIG. 7 is an exploded view of the cable system bottom portion within theside column shown in FIG. 6.

FIG. 8 is an exploded view of the drive mechanism attached to the topportion of the cable pulley system.

FIG. 9 is an exposed view of the drive components mounted in an overheadhousing.

FIG. 10 is a perspective view of an alternate drive mechanism employinga hand crank.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Throughout the following detailed description, the same referencenumerals refer to the same elements in all figures.

Referring to FIG. 1, the safety cover apparatus 10 has a right 12 andleft 14 vertical hollow column and a top drive housing 16. A heavy dutycurtain 18 is attached along a right 20 and left 22 side edge tomultiple clips 24 which are in turn connected to a slide block 26. Theright 12 and left 14 vertical columns are attached with a bracket 28 toa corresponding front right 30 and left 32 vertical frame membersupporting horizontal shelves 34, 36, 38 and 40, as seen in FIGS. 2-4.The right 12 and left 14 vertical columns could be attached to the rightrear 42 or left rear 44 vertical frame member depending on which side ofthe storage bay protection is needed. Of course, the safety coverapparatus 10 could be mounted on both the front and rear portions of thestorage bay as needed. Generally, it is only necessary to cover the toptwo shelves 38 and 40 as shown in FIG. 2. The curtain 18 can containindicia (not shown) to advertise products for sale.

Referring to FIGS. 6-7, vertical column 12 has a vertical slot 46 alongan inside wall 48. The slide blocks 26 have grooves 50 and 52overlapping edges 54 and 56, respectively along slot 46. Each slideblock 26 is attached along its back wall 58 to cable 60 by a pair ofclamps 62 and 64. A U-bolt 66 is threaded to nuts 68 and 70 over clamp64. A U-bolt 66 is attached within groove 72 to rod 74. Rod 74 isattached within a folded up lower portion 76 of curtain 18.

Lower pulley 78 is bolted to a lower inner wall 80 of column 12 with aflange bearing 82 interposed between a side of the pulley 78 and theinner wall 80.

Referring to FIG. 8, the upper pulley 84 is bolted to the upper innerwall 86 of column 12 with a flange bearing 82 interposed between a sideof the pulley 84 and the inner wall portion 86. The cable 60 is keptunder tension with spring 88. A limit switch prevents any cableoverride. The upper pulley 84 is turned by drive shaft 92, driven bymotor 94 as shown in FIG. 9. A right side drive shaft bracket 96 isattached to an inner wall of housing 16 to support the drive shaft 92. Amotor pulley 98 turns the drive shaft 92 which is supported on the leftside within housing 16 by drive shaft bracket 100. Drive shaft bracket100 is bolted to an inner wall of housing 16.

The motor 94 is electrically operated by a switch 102 which is bolted toa vertical frame member 30. Wire 104 connects to motor 94.Alternatively, as seen in FIG. 10, the pulleys can be operated by a handcrank 106.

The housing 16 and vertical hollow tubular columns 12 and 14 are made ofaluminum or steel. The curtain 18 is a synthetic nylon, or polyesterfabric, or natural fabric cloth or other high strength material on whichindicia can be printed for advertising purposes.

Equivalent components can be substituted for the components describedabove to obtain substantially the same results in substantially the sameway and achieve substantially the same function.

1. A retractable curtain guard for a storage bay having multiple levelsseparated by horizontal storage platforms and vertically spaced apartside supports attached on a first and second front and rear side of thestorage platforms, the retractable curtain guard comprising: a right andleft hollow column attached to the first and second front or rear sidesupports; a cable moving over a pulley within the right and left column;a means for driving the pulley to release or retract the cable; avertical slot in an inside wall of the right and left column; multipleslide blocks clamped to the cable and movable in a vertical directionwithin the vertical slot in the right and left column; a heavy dutycurtain positioned between the right and left column and attached on afirst and second side edge to clips connected to the multiple slideblocks; and a horizontal rod attached to a bottom edge of the curtain, afirst and second end of the rod connected to a slide block so that uponactuating of the means for driving the pulley the curtain is eitherlowered to cover at least one entrance to a storage platform orretracted to expose the storage platforms.
 2. The retractable curtainguard according to claim 1 wherein the means for driving the pulley isan electric motor turning a shaft connected to the pulley.
 3. Theretractable curtain guard according to claim 1 wherein the means fordriving the pulley is a hand crank.
 4. The retractable curtain guardaccording to claim 1 wherein the cable is biased.
 5. The retractablecurtain guard according to claim 1 wherein each slide block hasoppositely positioned side grooves riding over oppositely positionededges of the vertical slot in the right and left column.
 6. Theretractable curtain guard according to claim 1 wherein the right andleft hollow columns are attached to the first and second front verticalside supports for the storage bay by bolted brackets.
 7. The retractablecurtain guard according to claim 1 wherein the right and left hollowcolumns are attached to the first and second rear vertical side supportsfor the storage bay by bolted brackets.
 8. The retractable curtain guardaccording to claim 1 wherein the heavy duty curtain contains indicia. 9.The retractable curtain guard according to claim 1 wherein the heavyduty curtain is a nylon sheet.
 10. A protective curtain apparatus for astorage bay having multiple levels separated by horizontal storageplatforms and vertically spaced apart side supports on a first andsecond front and rear side of the storage platforms, the protectivecurtain apparatus attached by hollow right and left side columns to thevertically spaced apart side supports, the protective apparatusadditionally comprising: a biased cable moving over a pulley within thehollow side columns; a means for driving the pulleys to release orretract the cable; a vertical slot in an inside wall of the right andleft hollow column; multiple slide blocks clamped to the cable, theslide blocks movable in a vertical direction within the vertical slot inthe right and left column; a heavy duty curtain positioned between theright and left columns and attached by clips on a right and left sideedge of the curtain to the slide blocks; and a horizontal rod attachedto a bottom edge of the curtain, a first and second end of the rodconnected to a slide block so that upon actuating of the means fordriving the pulley the curtain is either lowered to cover at least oneentrance to a storage platform or retracted to expose the storageplatforms.
 11. A protective curtain apparatus according to claim 10,wherein the means for driving the pulleys is an electric motor turning ashaft attached to the pulleys.
 12. A protective curtain apparatusaccording to claim 10, wherein the slide blocks have grooves on oppositeside surfaces engaging an opposing edge on each side of the verticalslot.
 13. A protective curtain apparatus according to claim 10, whereinthe heavy duty curtain is a nylon sheet.
 14. A protective curtainapparatus according to claim 13, wherein the nylon curtain containsindicia.
 15. A method for the prevention of goods falling frommulti-level storage platforms, the platforms having front and rear,right and left side vertical posts supporting the multi-level storageplatforms, the method comprising: attaching right and left hollowcolumns to the right and left side vertical post respectively, eachcolumn having a vertical slot along an inside wall; attaching a pulleyto a wall in the right and left hollow columns; mounting a biased cableover the pulleys; mounting an electric motor in a housing positionedabove the right and left hollow columns; driving the pulleys with ashaft turned by the electric motor; clamping multiple slide blocks tothe cable; attaching multiple clips to a right and left side edge of aheavy duty curtain and connecting each clip to a slide block; attachinga rod to a bottom edge of the curtain and connecting a first and secondend of the rod to a slide block; and activating the motor and thepulleys with a switch.